Rodeo Romeo
Rodeo Romeo is the 142nd Popeye cartoon, released by Famous Studios on August 16, 1946. It features Popeye the Sailor as the main protagonist; Olive Oyl as the romantic interest; Badlands Bluto as the main antagonist and a rodeo bull as a secondary antagonist. In addition to featuring the characters in a Western setting (as in Popalong Popeye and Tar with a Star), the cartoon is notable for its use of hallucinatory drugs in its plotline and in dealing openly with Popeye's jealousy of his handsome brute of a rival. PLOT This cartoon is one of a trio (along with Toreadorable and Popeye Meets Hercules) that are essentially variations on a theme: Bluto is the headliner at a sporting event conducted in a stadium to which Popeye has taken Olive on a date. Olive cheers wildly for Bluto, who singles her out of the crowd and makes romantic overtures to her despite the presence of her boyfriend. This causes an irate Popeye to jump onto the stadium field and, with the help of some spinach, challenge the star attraction at his own game as the adulation of the crowd -and Olive- shifts in his favor. As this cartoon commences we see Olive Oyl in Western garb, cheering wildly for the heartthrob while a sullen Popeye, in his sailor uniform, retorts, "Phooey!" His face turns red with envy as Bluto's expert stunt riding brings Olive to her feet as the crowd roars its approval. Taking a momentary break, the rodeo star rolls himself a cigarette and utilizes Popeye and his pipe for a lighter, a gag that was repeated in Popalong Popeye (it should be noted that the usually cigar-chomping Bluto smokes cigarettes here, precluding any influence from the 1954-introduced Marlboro Man) . Having had enough of being upstaged, Popeye vows, "I'll show that cut-rate drugstore cowboy!" He swallows some spinach and proceeds to best Badlands at bareback riding, shooting, and rope tricks. A steaming Bluto retorts, "That ornery varmint is ruining me act!" and fiendishly fills the sailor's spinach can with locoweed. There ensues a series of vignettes of an hallucinatory nature--Popeye mistakes a savage bull for a society matron and attempts to waltz with "her"; Bluto, accidentally ingesting some of his own handiwork, mistakes Olive for a calf that requires roping and branding. Olive's cries for help break Popeye out of his drugged stupor and, breaking into a second can of spinach, his punch transforms the bull into a butcher-shop display of steaks, roasts, chops, and sausage links, surmounted by a Texas Longhorn hat rack. Bluto, seeming to escape his hallucinatory high as the same time as Popeye, fires off a barrage of hot branding irons at the sailor, reminiscent of his horseshoe weapons in ''The Anvil Chorus Girl, ''which Popeye flings back at him in a similar fashion. The big man attempts to escape but is struck in the derriere. In the final scene, a merciful Popeye and Olive deposit a tub of water at the foot of the board fence Bluto had attempted to climb, and the "Rodeo Romeo" falls backwards into it. As he extricates himself we can see that the branding irons have spelled out the words "THE END." Badlands Outfoxes Popeye.gif|Badlands Bluto spikes Popeye's spinach with weed